My Kind of Trouble (2 page)

A message he couldn't decipher sparkled in
her blue eyes. "That's where you're wrong, Sheriff," she told him
in a throaty purr then spun on her heel to sashay over to the cab
of the truck where she reached inside and jerked out a large purse
then slung it over her shoulder. Without another glance in his
direction, she headed up the road toward Bowie, her ass swinging,
taunting him, with each long loose stride.

Cassie pushed her hot stringy hair over her
shoulder and huffed in a lungful of the dusty dry Texas air. She
pulled her tank top away from her breasts where it had suctioned,
then frowned at the grease on her shirt, her broken nails, dusty
shorts and boots.

This was sure not how she wanted to look
when she saw Luke Matthews again. She imagined he must be still
laughing his ass off at the sight she made. Oh well, what the hell
did she care what he thought, she thought, but an inner voice
whispered that she did care...because she wanted him to eat his
heart out.

A Sheriff?
Bad boy Luke Matthews was
a deputy now? She almost stopped in her tracks to howl laughing.
The same boy who had gotten thrown in the pokey for underage
drinking? For kicking Jimmy Jones' ass for slapping hers? For
breaking curfew to try and sneak into her window? That last one had
almost got his ass filled with buckshot by her daddy, but instead
he'd settled for calling the cops, thank god.

Cassie shook her head again...
a
deputy
.

Time had been good to him, she admitted
grudgingly. He was still as handsome as sin with his dark hair,
square beard-stubbled jaw and whiskey brown eyes. Tall with the
hard-packed muscles of manhood now, instead of lean and rangy like
he'd been as a younger man, he looked even better than he had back
then. All that manliness wrapped up in that uniform made him even
more delectable. But Cassie wouldn't be partaking of Luke's
all-night buffet, that was for sure.

She was over Luke Matthews...had been for
years now. Her sole purpose in Bowie was to help her dad get back
on his feet, and maybe to convince him to retire. Besides, she was
an engaged woman, engaged to a man who really loved and respected
her. She twisted the two carat diamond on her left hand around in
circles.

James Barton was her friend, business
partner and lover. Although he could be a little shallow and a lot
clingy at times, he was steady and dependable too. They understood
each other. She'd met him three years ago at a Realtor convention,
and they'd hit it off, then went into business together in Phoenix.
One lonely night they'd progressed to a friends with benefits
relationship, then six months ago he'd told her he loved her and
asked her to marry him. And she'd said yes.

He might not be her idea of a dream lover,
as good looking as he was, but wasn't all that bad. When he wasn't
being selfish he got the job done...sometimes. So what if he didn't
set off wildfire inside her gut, he was a good man and he treated
her well.

Cassie figured she loved James as much as
she would ever allow herself to love any man again. Her heart had
been out of the dating and relationship equation, since she'd left
Bowie. It still was. But she was ready to start a family, and not a
single-parent one like hers had been after her mother had died.

When a horn blew behind her she jumped then
spun around. Luke eased up beside her on the road and rolled down
the window. Cold air wafted through the opening and she saw the
hair on his forehead lift in the cool breeze from the vent. She
swallowed thirstily, and used her forearm to wipe away a bead of
sweat that trickled down her temple.

"Hot out there?" His asked, his brown eyes
twinkling with amusement. He gave her a smug smile that caused the
dimple that always drove her crazy to dent his cheek then told her,
"Hop in, I'll give you a ride to town."

"I'd rather roast, but thank you." She
turned and marched down the road again and had gone about ten steps
when he pulled up by her again, idling along as she walked.

"C'mon, cupcake. I won't bite...just nibble
a little," he drawled in that lazy honeyed voice of his she
remembered so well.

Her heart kicked a little at his use of the
nickname and line that had made her agree to go out with him the
first time he asked. It kind of touched her that he remembered, but
then she reminded herself it was probably a well-worn line. One
she'd fallen for just because she was a naive teenager who had a
crush on him.

She growled her frustration, then narrowed
her eyes and hissed, "I don't think so...and
don't
call me
that
again!"

Cassie started walking again and then a dust
tornado swirled in front of her kicking dust and pebbles into her
mouth and eyes. Raising her hand, she tried to protect her face
from the onslaught and then coughed when she inhaled the gritty
air. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw that Luke was still
tailing her at an idle.

Being stubborn wasn't going to get her to
Bowie any quicker, she decided. It was hot as cornbread in a cast
iron skillet out here, and she was exhausted. Her skin was coated
in a fine layer of dust that was turning to mud with every bead of
sweat that trickled down her face. Her fair skin would be burnt to
a crisp by the time she got to Bowie.

She could ride with him, and remain
unaffected, she told herself. Luke Matthews meant less than nothing
to her now. He was simply a public servant to her, and for right
now, she was one of the public he served.

Lifting her chin, Cassie looked over toward
the car where he sat smiling, waiting for her to either accept his
ride or start walking again. Cassie huffed out a breath then
crossed the road and walked around the car to jerk open the
passenger door. When she slid inside, cold air brushed across her
skin and evaporated the sweat beads there. Breathing a sign of
relief, she laid her head back against the seat.

"Feel better?" He asked then leaned forward
to kick the air up a notch and point another vent toward her.

"Yes, thank you. Could you please take me to
Bowie?"

"Sure thing, cup--" he started, then stopped
when she opened one eye and gave him a warning look. "Cassie," he
corrected then looked at the road and pressed the accelerator.

After a minute, Cassie sat up and looked out
the window at the all-too-familiar landscape of her former home,
dotted with patches of grass, cactus and scrub brush, broken up by
copses of trees here and there. When she felt his eyes on her,
Cassie looked at him to find him staring at her chest.

Looking down, she saw that the cold air had
made her nipples tighten under the wet tank top. She gave him a
nasty look and folded her arms across her chest, crossed her legs
and shifted her body toward the door. There, how was that for body
language? Off limits buddy--that ship sailed about ten years ago,
she thought.

Silence filled the inside of the car, except
for the sound of the air blowing from the vents they didn't speak.
Finally, curiosity got the better of her. "So, how long have you
been a deputy?"

He looked away from the road and said, "I
was a deputy for three years, and I've been Sheriff for nearly
four."

A grin she couldn't control eased up her
lips and she chuckled. "Sheriff?"

"Surprising, huh?" his firm lips ticked up
wryly.

"I'd say...I kind of expected you to be on
the other side of the bars."

She would, he thought. But she didn't know
Luke Matthews wasn't the same boy she'd ran out on ten years ago.
Luke was a man now, and respectable. His drunken father wasn't how
people knew him these days, neither were his youthful
indiscretions...most of which were caused by
her
.

Her smile faded and she asked, "How's your
dad?"

"Dead. His liver finally gave out three
years ago." He still couldn't force any feeling into saying that,
even after three years, all he could feel was relief that his old
man was dead.

She gasped. "Oh, Luke...I'm sorry."

He glanced over at her and saw her eyes
filled with sympathy. It grated on his nerves. "Don't be. I'm not."
He pinched his lips together and gripped the steering wheel
tighter.

Luke didn't care if he came off sounding
like an unfeeling bastard, that was just how he felt about it. His
father got what he deserved, after years of physically abusing and
mentally torturing him when he was into the bottle.

"You here to see about Carl?"

"Yeah...Imelda called me. I'll be around a
few weeks to help him get back on his feet, unless I can talk him
into coming to Phoenix with me."

Luke snorted. "That ain't happening, honey.
You know it." Carl Bellamy's roots were planted on that ranch and
the only way she'd get him to leave was boots up. She unfolded her
arms and put her hand on her thigh. He glanced down and saw a
diamond ring on her finger big enough to choke a horse. The sun
shining through the windshield hit it and it about blinded him.

A sharp pain pierced his chest and he
reached up to rub it. Her eyes met his and he saw something that
looked almost like guilt there. "Your Daddy never mentioned you got
married."

"Engaged." She corrected him flatly and
covered her left hand with her right in her lap, as if hiding the
huge stone would make it go away. Like she was embarrassed over
it.

He nodded. What did he expect? She had a
life in Phoenix now, she was a beautiful woman, how could expect
her not to be married by now? But the hard proof on her finger that
another man had the right to touch her...to love her...that she
loved someone else, made his heart wrench a little over what could
have been if she'd stuck around.

He gritted his teeth then swallowed hard and
said, "Congratulations."

Her blue eyes slid to his and she studied
him a moment, then said, "Thank you."

She glanced down and picked up her purse
from beside her leg and unzipped it. Removing a pack of wet wipes,
she flipped down the visor and wiped her face, neck and then her
chest.

Watching that cloth slide over her throat
and chest had him hot and bothered again, so he forced his eyes
back to the road to keep from torturing himself. As they rode in
silence, Luke reminded himself that her flippant attitude toward
him proved she was still the selfish bitch who'd left him ten years
ago without explanation. No way was he going to let the pretty
packaging blind him to that fact.

Luke was relieved when they finally pulled
into a parking spot in front of Toby's garage. She picked up her
purse from the floor. "Thanks for the ride," she said then started
to reach for the door handle.

"I can wait and bring you back to your truck
if you want?" Luke offered without knowing why. Must be latent
masochistic tendencies. All needed was to be trapped inside the car
with her any longer, her familiar smell and half-naked body
taunting him to the brink of insanity.

"Nah, I'm sure I can get a ride," she said
distractedly. "Hey--is that Cody Lawson over there?" She waved at
the large blond man in the grease-stained overalls who stood at the
bay door wiping his big beefy hands on a red rag.

Luke knew she'd dated the big bozo, who had
been full-back for the Bowie Beavers, in tenth grade, before he and
Cassie had started dating the next year. Jealousy punched him in
the gut and he tamped it down. So what if she still had the hots
for the big grease monkey, he thought.

"Yeah, he's worked here since right after
high school. He owns it now. Toby retired a few years ago."

"Really? I thought Cody got a full-ride to
A&M for football?"

"He did--they took it back when he got hurt
that last game." The knee injury wasn't the only thing that would
have prevented Cody from finishing college. The guy was dumb as a
box of rocks. The only reason he finished high-school was because
the teachers wouldn't dare fail their star athlete. The coaches
made sure of it. This was Texas, and A&M football was much more
important than education to them.

"That's too bad...he was really good," she
said with sympathy filling her blue eyes.

"Yeah, he was," Luke agreed tightening his
grip on the steering wheel. "He probably wouldn't have made the
grades to stay on the team anyway," he told Cassie then realized
what a jealous fool he sounded like. But, it was true. Cody didn't
have the drive or the brains to have gone the distance.

Unlike Luke, who had worked two jobs so he
could go to school and make sure he could do better than his
drunken father.

Luke watched as recognition hit Cody and a
big smile split his face, before he walked to the car and jerked
open the door. He pulled Cassie out of the car and into a big bear
hug that lifted her off her feet. "Oh, my god...honey, are you a
sight for sore eyes!"

She giggled...fucking giggled...and then put
her arms around his neck and put a big smacker of a kiss on his
grease-smeared cheek. Luke wanted to punch something. That
certainly wasn't the reception
he'd
gotten. And that guy
hadn't almost been her fiancé before she'd up and left him high and
dry with no explanation. Luke held that honor.